Word: pullout
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Mikhail Gorbachev may finally get his way. Two months ago, the Soviet leader said he wanted to begin withdrawing the 115,000 Soviet troops mired in Afghanistan by May 15, but deadlocked negotiations in Geneva over the precise terms of the pullout cast doubt on his schedule. The snag was caused by Washington's insistence that the U.S. could arm Afghanistan resistance fighters as long as Moscow continued to provide military help to Kabul's Communist regime...
...break down over that contentious point last week when Gorbachev decided to yield to the U.S. demand. Having won support from the Politburo, all that remained for Gorbachev was to secure agreement from Afghanistan President Najibullah, a former secret-police chief who is reportedly displeased with the Soviet pullout plan. Gorbachev summoned Najibullah to Tashkent, 200 miles north of the Soviet-Afghan border, where the two men conferred along with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze. No details of the talks were released, but a Western diplomat in Moscow said, "I think it is a fair assumption that the Gorbachev meeting...
...along the border as well as terror bombings in retribution for Islamabad's support for the mujahedin, the response to Gorbachev's concession was more clear-cut. Legislators thumped their desks in approval as President Mohammed Zia ul-Haq told a joint session of the parliament that a Soviet pullout was imminent. He called the development the "miracle of the 20th century, God willing...
...agreement without the establishment of an interim government in Kabul that included representatives of the resistance groups. Under pressure from the U.S. Congress to defend the mujahedin's interests, the U.S. raised the stakes even further by insisting that Moscow stop all military aid to Najibullah after the pullout. Moscow rejected both points, and Pakistan subsequently backed off from its interim-regime demand when it became clear that the fractious resistance leaders would never accept even token Communist representation in any coalition government...
...head in a compromise proposal made to the Soviets: Would Moscow go along with continued U.S. arms supplies to the mujahedin at levels "symmetrical" to Moscow's support for Najibullah? "Unacceptable" was the response by Soviet Foreign Ministry Spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov, and Foreign Minister Shevardnadze threatened a unilateral Soviet pullout without an agreement at Geneva. In the end, Gorbachev apparently decided that a formal accord was too important to lose. "What they needed was a fig leaf," observed a Western diplomat in Moscow. "This allows ((the Soviets)) to preserve their position of principle...